TheNexusProject/HeavenlyTransportCompany
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The Heavenly Transport Company
by Shataina
- "You'll never get me up on one of those things! Newfangled technology is too much for this simple lady. ... Besides, my great-grandma offended the god of lightning once, and it don't do to tempt fate."
~ the simpleton Lokara
- "I always use the Heavenly Transport Company when making private appointments these days. It often saves me over half an hour of time that would otherwise have been spent down in the streets with the peasants. One of them tried to look into my carriage the other day! Can you believe that?! Naturally, I had one of my bodyguards chase him down and break all four limbs. Filthy creatures. There should be a Civility!"
~ Icefire Jasmine, grade-A bitch
A short, fat man with twinkling sky-blue eyes, Rapturous Buoyance is genial and friendly, always ready with a joke and surprisingly light on his feet for a man of such girth. He started the Heavenly Transport Company within two months of his arrival in Nexus several years ago as an immigrant from Haslanti lands, and because of his unparallelled service (and good sense in hiring the Rikina to advertise for him), his business has taken off with amazing speed.
Headquartered in the Nexus district, but with multiple branches spreading quickly through the city, the Heavenly Transport Company is, quite simply, an airborne public transportation system. Offices are rented on the highest floors of local buildings, and large signs and service maps posted out front. The top of the building is kept clear at all times save for one brightly-uniformed employee ostentatiously burning incense to Vanileth, God of Artificial Flight (reference: "Games of Divinity"). This employee also signals the Heavenly Transport Company's flying platforms, helping guide their operators to a safe landing on the roof.
These double-tiered platforms, sturdily constructed of wood with simple, light wooden fences around the sides, seat around a hundred people (more can squeeze on in a pinch) and are operated by an employee on top who has been trained to utilize the carved jade control panel set into a kind of altar on the side. Although building them has to have been astronomically expensive, the prices charged by the Heavenly Transport Company are astonishingly low; the average Nexian can afford two trips a day with ease, and even the poor can do so occasionally. The fares even undercut those of the Tunnelz, which have been losing business like crazy. It helps that the platforms seem to be quite safe; the fences, though flimsy and light, are enough to keep the cautious passengers from going over the edge. Rich clients and merchants can rent entire platforms for a day for prices that more and more people are coming to call "reasonable", particularly since the Heavenly Transport Company can offer service that is not only extremely fast, but incredibly secure and free of the press of the canaille in the Nexus streets.
The Scuttlebutt did a profile on Rapturous Buoyance a few months ago, and noted rather grumpily that their writers had been unable to find anything about the source of Rapturous Buoyance's unbelievable wealth. One or two accusations have been tossed around, but no one in Nexian high society really cares. He's a very personable guy -- witty and amusing; most importantly, he's single, and a fantastic target for scheming mothers and their unmarried daughters. He seems to enjoy the attention, although he hasn't shown any one hopeful any particular favour. After all, he'll tell you slyly, he wouldn't want to disappoint all the rest.
Rumours
- The Heavenly Transport fares may be surprisingly reasonable now, but once it's become a necessity to the honest, hardworking folk of Nexus, there's going to be quite the fare hike.
- Alternatively, the Heavenly Transport Company is only going to keep its fares reasonable until it can drive the Tunnelz out of business; Rapturous Buoyance has a personal grudge against the worm-things of the Tunnelz and wishes nothing more than to make their lives empty and worthless.
- Rapturous Buoyance was once a scion of the Yeskanero clan, but was disowned for categorically refusing his parents' attempts to arrange profitable marriages for him.
Secret
Rapturous Buoyance is a clockwork construct controlled from afar by Vanileth, who has been losing power ever since the fall of the First Age. The Heavenly Transport Company is an attempt to begin to bring Vanileth's domain back into relevance across the world. Once the project takes off in Nexus, there will be branches started in other cities across Creation. This would be harmless ... save that one of Vanileth's favourite forms of sacrifice is to have things, preferably living, thrown from high-flying objects to their deaths. So once the Heavenly Transport Company has gained a solid enough reputation to take some damage and has enough daily passengers to spare one or two every now and then, some regrettable "accidents" are going to begin occurring ... and that's going to happen pretty soon.
Comments
To allay confusion: DreamingNymph did writeThe Tunnelz after I wrote this entry; I just edited it to make more sense in light of her contribution (I'd originally written it under the assumption that there wasn't any such thing as a subway in Nexus).
~ Shataina
